Swimming for weight loss, any success stories?

I swam in high school. I've never had a lower bf %.

Yes swimming burns a lot of calories. Remember though weight loss comes from a calorie deficit so what you eat is most important. Exercise just increases your calorie deficit.

Also your distance doesn't make sense. 200 laps of 50 m?

Then sounds like you're doing well. I'd keep up with the swimming it's great exercise. And 10,000 yards a week is great

Hm I wouldn't see why that would be.

I'm swimming 50 laps a day and its helping loads.
Ideally if you can swim all 4 strokes in a medley routine...however if not make sure you do backstroke as atleast 25% of your swim...really good for tightening the stomach...and sorting the mobile/laptop hunch

aggelikik wrote: »

No exercise is going to make a big difference in weight loss, unless the plan is to dedicate hours per day to exercising. And obviously not eat more.
Swimming is no different. It is mainly going to help with health and fitness, play a small role in weight loss. Your weight will be affected mainly by diet changes.

But she's swimming 10km a week, that is heaps! I am sure that will have an effect. If she was swimming 1km a week, sure.

It's great that you are looking towards swimming and water based exercise for the knee. Your physio should be able to guide you on exercises to help your recovery. In the pool you should probably avoid whip kick for now. You can deep-water jog and also try water walking - forwards/backwards/side to side - as able. Use the depth to take the weight off your knee as you walk i.e. shallower for less weight off and deeper for more weight off.

As for a calorie burn - swimming is very hard to measure. It all depends upon the efficiency of the swimmer and speed of movement. If you are highly efficient (read experienced speed swimmer) in water you'll have to move faster to burn. If you are splashing around and fighting the water to go forwards then you are burning more - although you most likely won't get the distance because you'll get pooped out.

Some calculators use distance as a measure. You need to be absolutely sure of your distance. If you truly have a 50 metre pool to exercise in - then you are very lucky indeed. They are not common compared to 25m pools. A 50 metre pool is a *huge* pool. They are normally stand alone centres with a very large grandstands surrounding for big aquatics sports competions.

They usually have a bulkhead spanning the pool separating the pool into two 25m sections. They are set up for synchronized swimmers, divers, and water polo teams who need a 25m space of all-deep water to practice in. Typically the deep water sections are 20ft deep to accommodate the huge diving platforms above. The 25m shallow water section can often be well over six feet throughout to reduce drag and waves during speed swimming competitions. The bulkheads are set back to the end of the pool when speed swim teams are training for 50m races.

I think the best advice you can have is to do a combination of diet and exercise. You can do a lot in the pool to achieve your goals. Good luck!

The only 50m pool in our city is the pool that was built specifically for the Commonwealth Games. The layout is like @SwimmyD described above. All other pools are 25m max.

Cheers, h.